Blogfinger

Bob Eastin behind the counter. He'd wanted to own the hardware store since he was a teenager.

By Mary Walton

You’ve seen the sign. Now meet the man.

But truth to tell, Bob Eastin, the new owner of Ocean Grove Hardware, is scarcely a stranger to many of us. He’s been working in the store since he was 14. He’s now 37, so figure it out. These days Eastin spends most of the work day overseeing the repairs and minor renovations that constitute the store’s side business. But we found him behind the counter with a bagel and coffee on Sunday morning, where he holds down the fort from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Raised in the Grove, Eastin said he was introduced to the hardware store at an early age by his grandfather, who had a construction business in town. His father, a transplanted Coloradan who married an Ocean Grove girl, also was a regular customer.

Back then the owner was Howard Smith Jr., who had inherited the business from Howard Smith Sr. According to the “verbal history” handed down to Eastin, the business was founded in 1923 as Angles & Smith. At the time it was a combination hardware store and plumbers’ supply.

When Eastin was little, he said, “Smith always promised me a job.” But he wasn’t hired until Joyce Flood and Dick Gennone bought the store. When they sold it to Dave Gilliland, “I came with the store.” He yearned to buy it then, “but I was only 17 or 18 at the time.”

Eastin worked there after school and summers while a student at Neptune High School and then at Rutgers University, where he picked up a degree in psychology. As Eastin was weighing his options post graduation, Gilliland offered him a job as manager, and he took it. Gilliland recently told Blogfinger that had Eastin not been waiting in the wings, he would have hesitated to sell. And the former owner will continue to work there, when he isn’t traveling or playing golf.

A psychology major running a hardware store? Like a psychologist, “I solve problems,” Eastin joked. But there’s truth in it. “I like puzzles. Everybody who comes into the store has a problem and we like to be able to solve them.” In addition to “the problem solving aspect,” Eastin added, “I also like the small-town America of it.”

As if on cue, a regular customer enters with a request. “Can I owe you for some radio batteries till Friday when I get a check? Is that OK?”

“Sure,” Eastin said. After the man left, Eastin said he’s never waited longer than two weeks for payment. “He pays every time.” That man isn’t the only one to run a tab. “We have somewhere between 150 and 200 house accounts.” A house account is a convenience for customers. As any homeowner knows, it’s the rare task that doesn’t require an emergency trip to the hardware store for a screw or glue or the right drill bit. Having an account allows someone to dispatch a kid or helper to pick up the needed item and put it on the tab.

Another Sunday customer, Mark Minnis, wanted some paint for a bench he had found on the street and stripped. After consulting with Eastin, he settled on Hodley Red. But how much? Advised Eastin, “If you’re going to need more than two quarts — economically buy the gallon.” With matching tasks in mind, Minnis bought the gallon.

Eastin advises customer Mark Minnis on a paint purchase. Photos by Mary Walton

Many people know Eastin as the “outside man,” who has run the store’s repair shop since 1998. But they may not know that he expanded it from a part-time operation to one with four full-time employees and a 1400 square foot woodworking shop in Asbury Park that turns out custom rails, gingerbread and wood screen doors.

For customers worried that Ocean Grove hardware might become a mini Home Depot, Eastin promised there will be no radical changes. The repair shop on the west side will be moved upstairs, where Carol Gilliland had an antiques shop. That will allow for some expansion on the first floor. And he has a couple ideas that he won’t disclose before talking to township officials. Even the stained and tattered red carpet will likely stay in place through the busy summer months, since renovations are best left to December through February.

In the meantime, it will be business as usual. Sales are brisk for the store’s highly rated Benjamin Moore paint. The first batch of new bicycles has arrived for summer rentals. Keys are the store’s biggest sellers in terms of volume. Even on a slow day, “We make 20 or 25 keys.”

Eastin is married to the former Elizabeth Cartwright, and they have two sons, Garrett, 9, and Thomas, 5. “Garrett has been in helping,” Eastin said. “He likes it. He thinks it’s exciting.”